Assessment of Landscape Ecological Health: A Case Study of a Mining City in a Semi-Arid Steppe

Zhenhua Wu, Shaogang Lei, Bao-Jie He, Zhengfu Bian, Yinghong Wang, Qingqing Lu, Shangui Peng and Linghua Duo
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Zhenhua Wu: Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Mine Ecological Restoration, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
Shaogang Lei: Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Mine Ecological Restoration, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
Bao-Jie He: Faculty of Built Environment, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
Zhengfu Bian: Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Mine Ecological Restoration, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
Yinghong Wang: School of Environment Science and Spatial Informatics, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
Qingqing Lu: School of Environment Science and Spatial Informatics, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
Shangui Peng: School of Business, Shandong Normal University, Ji’nan 250014, China
Linghua Duo: China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 5, 1-21

Abstract: The ecological status of the semi-arid steppes in China is fragile. Under the long-term and high-intensity development of mining, the ecological integrity and biodiversity of steppe landscapes have been destroyed, causing soil pollution, grassland degradation, landscape function defect, and so on. Previous studies have mainly focused on ecosystem health assessment in mining areas. Landscape ecological health (LEH) pays more attention to the interactions between different ecosystems. Therefore, the ecological assessment of mining cities is more suitable on a landscape scale. Meanwhile, the existing LEH assessment index systems are not applicable in ecologically fragile areas with sparse population, underdeveloped economy, and in relatively small research areas. The purpose of this study was to construct a LEH assessment index system and evaluate the LEH of a mining city located in a semi-arid steppe. Xilinhot is a typical semi-arid steppe mining city in China. The contradictions between the human, land and ecological environment are serious. A new model Condition, Vigor, Organization, Resilience, and Ecosystem (CVORE) model was constructed that integrated five subsystems (services) from the perspectives of ecology, landscape ecology, mining science, and geography. This study used the CVORE model to systematically evaluate the LEH in Xilinhot city in terms of five LEH levels, including very healthy, healthy, sub-healthy, unhealthy and morbid landscape. Research results show that the areas of the very healthy, healthy, sub-healthy, unhealthy and morbid landscapes are 13.23, 736.35, 184.5, 66.76 and 20.63 km 2 , respectively. The healthy landscapes area accounts for 72.08% and most grasslands are healthy. The sub-healthy landscapes are mainly located around areas with higher disturbances due to human activities. The morbid or unhealthy landscapes are concentrated in the mining areas. The proposed CVORE model can enrich the foundations for the quantitative assessment of Landscape Ecological Health of Mining Cities in Semi-arid Steppe (LEHMCSS). This study provided a new LEH assessment approach (CVORE model), which can support landscape ecological restoration, ecological environmental protection and urban planning of the semi-arid steppe mining cities.

Keywords: assessment of landscape ecological health; CVORE model; semi-arid Steppe; mining city (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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